1965
1966
1967
1968
Cotton
Discontinuous
199
222
520
918
Knitted
Continuous
(1
**
Hong Kong
953
Portugal
943
1,179
1,328
1,468 1,576
1,617
1,489
H.M.G. is
We are particularly concerned about what the Swedes do on shirts. Ander) 18.
Lvery strong and continuous pressure to restrict imports of knitted nylon shirts from Portugal, which in 1968 accounted for more than 90 per cent of total U.K. imports of approx 7 million knitted nylon shirts. We understand that towards the end of last year the Swedes managed to persuade the Portuguese to restrict exports of cotton shirts, but there is more than a suspicion that the restrictions apply to knitted nylon as well as to cotton shirts. We are a good deal more competitive in this field than the Swedes, yet Swedish imports from Portugal fell in 1968 and ours rose by more than 50 per cent. The Swedes were encouraged by our example to such restraints on Portugal, but our agreement with the Portuguese was limited to woven cotton. The agreement has been abrogated by the Portuguese because of the import deposit scheme
gain if we can stop the Swedes from extending controls on shirts.
an
19. The Swedes will try hard to force Hong Kong to agree to restrictions. Imports of cotton/polyester shirts from South Korea rose from 14,000 in 1967 to 236,000 in 1968 and we have heard that the Koreans have agreed to a quota of only 210,000. South Korea and Hong Kong both using Japanese cloth for this trade. And Hong kong is using Japanese cloth to unndercut domestic producers in the U.K. : we bought 3000,000 of these shirts in 1968 and we would obviously stand to lose a great deal ff trade were to be directed from Sweden and other countries to this
market.
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